Follow along as I explore our world

Author: Sarah M

It’s a really fun question to answer. The conversation goes something like this….

“Oh! You go to school! What do you study?”

“I go to Kwantlen, I study beer!”

“What? Really? That’s a thing?”

“Yep. That’s a thing.”

So now you know. I just spent 5 years getting a degree from the top rated UBC, and now I go to KPU and study beer. Funny how life changes like that. It’s pretty surreal. For the last several years I’ve spent my summers and evenings working in the industry– pouring beers, creating and crafting cocktails, and sharing my passion for Okanagan wine with guests who are local, tourists, and visitors from afar. Now, I study the science of beer.

Chemistry was always my weakest subject. I just about failed Chemistry 12 and would have, if it wasn’t for a God-send of a teacher named Darcy Ramsey. (Thanks Mrs. R, for teaching me how to titrate a sample. Going to be useful in creating beer). You would not believe the chemistry and micro-biology that goes into making beer. I think the entire time I’ve been pouring beers and selling bottles to people I’ve just assumed that you just chuck a bunch of grain, yeast, water, and hops into a pot and somehow it works out. False. Very false. Turns out there’s a lot of very precise measuring, dangerous chemicals, and a lot of hefty lifting involved. (Proud moment: I can definitely one arm a 20L keg up the stairs at work, and I couldn’t at the end of the summer!!)

So yeah. I go to school to learn about the science of making beer. Or in other words, we create the perfect living situation for yeast and let them work. It’s weird to think that for the last several years the industry was something I just did on evenings or weekends to pay for my real “career”- Geography and English, and that it wasn’t something to be taken seriously. The more I think about it, one of my favourite parts of my undergrad was getting to work in some cool places and learn as much as I could about the Okanagan wine industry, craft beer, or how mixing and pairing flavours can create some amazing cocktails. Now I’m getting the chance to pursue a dream I’ve had since grade 8, and it’s okay, and it’s legitimate, and it’s a normal thing.

And so– if you want to know about what I’m drinking, if you want to see random photos from brewery hopping, and if you want to see into the life of a young woman in the brewing industry, then this will be the place for you to follow. I promise it won’t always be so weird, and that I’ll actually try to write regularly (every Wednesday for sure, more often if I can!), and that you’ll learn something. So far I’ve learned about how to dilute wort samples, and how to transfer water from HLC to Kettle to Mash Tun. Very fancy. (Not really, I sweat a lot today). I also know how to fit a half face mask, and that rubber steel toed, steel plated boots don’t come in women’s sizes.

Anyways. Drink craft, not corp, and definitely not crap. Keep it real team.

S.

PS. I know I never finished my Italy series-my bad. If you’re desperate to know anything else, just message me.

Frenzy is what happens when you forget to book ahead before going to Florence. It’s also what happens when your accommodations cancel on you. But more on that in bit.

Florence was absolutely beautiful! From the moment we got off the train and onto the bus to take us to our accommodations, you can tell it’s a much smaller and friendly city. I was pleasantly surprised to find that more people there speak English than in Rome, and that the costs of food and more importantly, gelato, were less than previous towns too. We arrived early Friday afternoon, and because I didn’t book Uffizi Gallery tickets ahead of time (woops), we had just enough time to settle in and then wander over to the gallery.

Two weeks before our trip I got an email saying that our room had been cancelled. Great. In a panic we googled anything possible and Tianna found a site called Monastery Stays, that acts at a sort of trip advisor for monasteries or convents around Italy. We had kept it as a sort of last resort and ended up booking at a place called the Gould Institute. Google it, and you can read all about the lady that started it and how it functions today. Pretty cool actually! Anyways. Thank goodness we ended up booked this place. It had an air condition and a fan, two beds and our own bathroom. Sweet deal. And for about the same we were going to pay for an apartment with one double bed and questionable air conditioning. Woo! The location was awesome too, located in the Santo Spirito neighbourhood south of the Arno River. Our wine geography prof Donna had recommended here too, so we lucked out.

We grabbed lunch at a place Tianna found (and turns out is also in the Rick Steves guide book), I bought some really nice, original art and an ATM stole my money I tried to withdraw (TD is working on it, sad day for me). Then we meandered over to the Uffizi Gallery and marvelled at the million pieces of art. The Borghese was better I think, but perhaps I am just more familiar with those artists than the ones in the Uffizi. After that we headed back to our room for a nap before getting dinner at a tiny place down the road from our place.

Saturday morning we got up relatively early to go to the Accademia. Again, I’m an idiot and didn’t pre-book so we ended up in line for an hour and half waiting to see David. In the end it wasn’t so bad and was worth it, plus the café across the street had these amazing pistachio cream stuffed croissants and coffee to go, which is rare in Italy. Once we got in though, it was amazing. You come around the corner into the museum and look down this long hall lined with other works by Michaelangelo and bam! There’s David. I got goosebumps. I didn’t realize how tall the guy actually is. It’s really beautiful. Another neat part of the museum is that it is home to Michaelangelo’s Prisoners, which are unfinished sculptures. You can see all the detail and chisel marks. It really makes you consider how much time and effort went into creating each and every piece of art he did.

David, in all his pondering glory.This is actually Christ being taken to the tomb after being crucified. His body is quite disproportionate, and his legs are clearly broken. Like the Prisoners this too is an unfinished piece.
Following the Accademia we went to Mercato Centrale, it’s like the Granville Market of Florence and it’s awesome. All I wanted to do was buy truffle oil, prosciutto and salami, and half a dozen cheeses. We limited ourselves to a bowl of pasta before I dragged Tianna halfway across town to an antiques market that we discovered doesn’t really exist. Oh well! Exercise can only make us stronger right?? Tianna went home and I wandered around for another few hours before grabbing an Aperol spritz at a bar Donna had recommended. The bartender was a total schmuck, but the drink was refreshing and I headed home after for a nap as well.

We grabbed an early dinner on Saturday and then found some spots on the river for the San Giovanni Day fireworks! We met some girls from the states, watched the fireworks, and then marched straight home to our air conditioned beds.

We ordered mussels thinking we were going to get 12-15 like yo do at home when you order them as an appetizer. We must have eaten over 50!!

Sunday was a lazy, wander around town sort of day. Half the things we wanted to do were closed, so we ended up just buying our train tickets for the next day to Pisa and then doing a little bit of shopping. We bought haggled for a couple belts outside the market, and I bought a cute little change purse and some scarves. Tianna bought some scarves too, and then we found a bench in the shade to eat our cheese buns and fantas we’d bought earlier for lunch. I bought some cute shoes too, and now I’m struggling to find places to fit all my purchases. I’m going to end up looking like the Michelin tire man on the plane home. That night we hiked up to Plazza de Michaelangelo to watch the sunset with all the love struck youth of Florence. Too much PDA for us, but it was really beautiful if you ignored all the couples necking and just watched the sun set.

Monday morning we just checked out of our place, went back to the market to get some baked goods and fruit for lunch, and I stood in line to see the inside of Florence’s duomo. It’s beautiful, and the frescoes on the dome are impressive, but after seeing both St. Peter’s and the Sistine Chapel it’s just not as mind blowing. Either way it was cool to see. After that I went back to the market to meet up with Tianna and we headed back to grab our luggage and catch our train to Pisa.

Saturday night, waiting for San Giovanni fireworks!Florence’s ginormous duomo.Watching the sun set over Firenze. So beautiful and worth the 1 billion stairs and kissing teenagers everywhere.
We were only in Pisa for one full day and two nights, and that’s probably more than enough time. The leaning tower is… well… leaning, and only 56 metres tall. I think we both got more entertainment out of watching everyone try and hold the thing up for photos than seeing the tower itself. It took two centuries to build something that isn’t even straight. Why would you waste that time and those resources? No capisco. We ate at a cute restaurant the first night where the owner wouldn’t let us pay full price, and a sandwich shop the next day where I accidentally ordered a sandwich with lard slices in it. Tasty, but the consistency is not fun. I’ll translate better next time. Our hostel there was mediocre at best and we had some weird roommates.

I too, can lean. Zero faulty engineering needed.Hilarious rating of the tower we found on google… well done fellow travelled… well done.The tourists… I like the guy who’s on the wrong side of the tower…
When we left Wednesday morning it was absolutely pouring, and we had to make a mad dash for the train station. Not going to lie though, it was a nice break after 33°+ weather for 2 weeks straight. We got into Manarola in Cinque Terre around 2:30 and hung out until we could check in at 4:00. But more on that later! As promised, I included more photos! Also, if you want specific names of anywhere we’ve been, feel free to comment and I’ll send them your way! Also, the tower was actually neat to see. I’m not completely ignorant of its wonder 😬.

We’re headed to Venice tomorrow! If you have any suggestions let me know!

Our last day in Rome was spent hoofing it out to the Vatican City. We took the metro and then walked the last 10 minutes to St. Peter’s and boy is that place big. Of course we had to weave and dodge the 1 million street vendors and tour guides offering us exclusive and “specially priced” tours of the museums and basilica. They are very aggressive, and on more than one occasion we’ve had to physically push past them to continue walking. Once there, we got through the security and dress code check into the basilica itself and while Tianna went in to look at the cathedral I stood in line to hike the bazillion stairs to the top of the dome.
Unfortunately we got there a bit late and with a time constraint due to our reservation for the museums at 13:45 I ended up having to ditch the line and just look at the inside of the dome and cathedral. It would have been neat to see Rome from way up there, but I guess I’ll just save it for next time! The inside of St. Peter’s is beautiful and filled with niches and side nooks with beautiful art and monuments to popes past and important figures in the church (like St. Peter himself). A really neat part of the basilica is that on the floor down the middle of the cathedral is the names of other cathedrals and duomos around the world; they are placed on the floor at the distance to which they would reach in comparison to St. Peter’s. It’s cool to see how big (or small) other churches stand in comparison. I wish people inside had been more respectful and quiet though…

My phone ended up going on the fritz while we were there and we got separated. We spent 30 minutes looking for each other before finally reuniting and practically running the 10 minutes down to the museum entrance so we wouldn’t be too late for our reservation! Once we got there we got stuck behind a large and particularly disorganized and slow tour group, so it didn’t matter anyway.

We wandered through the Egyptian museum and then kinda just hustled through the others to get to the Sistine Chapel. The museum closes at 16:30 or 17:00 too, so by the time we actually got there and got going we only had around 2 hours for the whole thing. You could easily spend a whole day going through everything if you’re really diligent and interested in all sorts of art and history. It was very busy though, so that was pretty annoying to have to push past people who don’t have any sort of spatial awareness or particular interest in actually learning about the art or space and are there because it’s “The Vatican”.

Going into the Sistine Chapel, they are very strict with covering your knees and shoulders, and ask that you be absolutely silent. There aren’t a ton of instructional signs prior to entering either, so I wasn’t actually aware that you couldn’t take photos until I tried to take one and a tour guide gave me a nasty look. My bad. It’s every bit as beautiful as you think it’ll be. We half listened to the Rick Steves podcast and half to our audio guides and between the two learned a ton about the frescoes. For example, the size of the figures on the far end (farthest from the altar) are much smaller and numerous than the ones on the near end to the altar. Why? When Michaelangelo started painting he just had this idea and went with it. When they took the scaffolding down and he looked up he was unhappy with how small and insignificant everyone looked. Thus, once he started on the second half he made the characters fewer in number and much larger than before so they would stand out more from the ground.

Every few minutes they ask (yell) that everyone be quiet, but people still talk and chatter away. It’s so rude. Even if you don’t believe in God or practice Christianity the least you can do is be respectful of the space and someone else’s religion! At one point a [priest?] spoke over the mic and welcomed everyone to the space and said that he was going to lead everyone in a prayer and asked that they be quiet. It got louder. He even explained it in 5 languages. This frustrates me to no end. Apparently it’s very difficult to breathe through your nose for 5-10 minutes and keep your mouth shut. It totally takes away from the experience when someone is yelling at the crowd to stop talking because they can’t follow one of the three rules for the space. *exasperated sigh*

After that we just popped into the art gallery and refilled our water bottles at an outside station. On the way out I stopped at the Vatican Post Office, which is different from the rest of Italy and mailed a few postcards. Kinda neat that they have their own postal service there! The stamps had the Pope on them too, so that’s hilarious. It’s also cheaper to mail things to Canada from the Vatican than it is from Italy in general! The museum was closing so we took our time going down the double helix staircase to leave and then found some gelato on the way back to the metro stop.

Thursday night we went out and met Olivia in Trastevere, a neighbourhood on the Southwest side of the river. Apparently there’s tons of great little restaurants in there, and we ended up getting pizza at a place a friend of Tianna’s recommended. They sell the pizza by weight instead of size or kind, so Tianna and I split a box and got 2 slices of 6 different kinds of pizza. So yummy! It was probably the best pizza we’ve had the whole trip so far. We sat on some steps in a little plaza and watched a guy drum on a bunch of buckets and tubes, fought off a guy trying to take our pizza box, and just chilled. Eventually we made it back to our hostel and got ready to leave the next morning.

We’re currently on the train to Manarola in Cinque Terre, so I’ll update you about our time in Florence later today or tomorrow. Then I’ll share a bit about our very brief time in Pisa!
Have a good day everyone!

PS. By the time we got to our hostel after getting off the train and realized how slow the wifi is here, I’ve decided to not include any photos for the sake of my sanity. I’ll include more on the next one!

Last I wrote we were still in Salerno! We’ve since been in Rome and tomorrow we leave for Florence! It’s been a busy (and incredibly hot) week here! Rome is this amazing city full of ruins and modern buildings, and more art than I can handle. It’s super dusty here too- so much so that we look like we’re still wearing socks when we take off our shoes!

So dusty!

On Tuesday we caught the metro down to the Colesseum and spent the morning weaving through group tours and trying to picture what the place would have looked like thousands of years ago. The stadium could hold 50,000 people, and often events would last the whole day- ranging from animal fights, to killing Christians, to gladiator fights. It’s amazing how much you can learn from spending 5€ on an audio guide. Makes me think about how much we pay for university courses…. Did you know that in some stadiums the floor was removable (think taking out the ice at a rink), and the tunnels below would be flooded to accommodate boats for water battles? Imagine BC place filled with boats and cannons!

The tunnels beneath the arena floor

After the Colesseo we went to the Roman Forum, as the ticket gets you into both spots. Here we listened to Rick Steves audio guide and wandered through the town centre. It’s really impressive to see and they’ve even got the place where Caeser was killed marked. A lot of the audio guides we’ve been listening to tend to put emphasis on how much Roman culture surrounded their belief in the gods. So much time and effort was spent honouring these figures and building temples to them. I can definitely start to understand how the birth of Christ and the rise of Christianity would be threatening to them.

After the Forum we wandered up the hill and around the Palatine Hill before catching the metro back to the gelato place. Then we met up with some girls from the hostel and grabbed a bite to eat just down the street.

Yesterday morning we got up early and walked to the Borghese Gallery. If you ever go to Rome… go here. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing it was, so here are some photos.

This is Napoleon’s sister… needless to say, she was prettier.Bernini’s David.Viewed from the back, all you can see is Apollo’s body and a tree. From the front you can see Daphne turning into a tree to escape him.

Then we meandered down to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain, and grabbed lunch at an amazing sandwich place Tianna had found online. It’s called Pane e Salami and it’s around the corner from the fountain. Hands down best sandwich I’ve had in a long time. Maybe ever. Go there too if you’re in town and want a ginormous panini sandwich for lunch. The store front itself is tiny though, so grab it to go and find a shady spot near the fountain to watch the tourists get suckered into buying toys and roses and other cheap stuff.

Make a wish!Best sandwich ever.Trevi at night was WAY busier than during the day!
After the Pantheon we headed back to the hostel for a nap, and then out to dinner not far from the fountain. It was very tasty and I finally got my zucchini flowers that I’ve been dying to have! Ricardo used to make them every once in a while at the restaurant, and I figured I’d be able to find it here too!

So that was Tuesday and Wednesday! I’ll write about today tomorrow when we’re on the train to Florence!

We’re so full. At least we were several hours ago. We ate dinner at a cool pizza place called Criscemunno and it was sooooo good! One of the co-owners, Francesco was our server and he was hilarious. I guess this place opened a year ago and they’re still building their reputation, although when we left there were at least 30 people waiting for tables… We were decently hungry so we each ordered a full pizza, and in hindsight we definitely could have split one. But, we figured if the two skinny Italian girls sitting behind us could each down a whole pizza, so could we. And so, we ate. And ate. And ate. By watching others I’ve discovered that the way to eat pizza is to cut a slice that’s a bit larger than we’d normally like, and folding it half. This means all the good stuff stays in the middle. Easy right? We each left a slice on our plates at the end of it all… and Francesco made fun of us for not finishing everything.

To be fair, Tianna tries to crack jokes that are funny in English and so far they’ve gone right over the heads of our Italian hosts. We did teach Francesco that it’s better to say he “designed” the menus though, rather than “painted” each and every one of them. I also had two local craft beers… at least I think they were local and craft. Who knows. I don’t read Italian. Either way they were tasty, and similar in style to a west coast ale. Tianna also learned that blanco pizza means that they don’t put tomato sauce on it, and so she ended up cutting up and squishing tomatoes onto each slice herself. #learningcurve

We spent the day at Positano, the most westerly of the Amalfi coast towns. There’s a ferry that leaves the main docks here every few hours so we hopped on the 11:40 boat and headed over. It is hot here. Not like Okanagan hot or Mexico hot, like, YMCA sauna hot. I’ve never sweat so much in my life. (Except for maybe spin class). Before I left I thought for sure I was going to gain weight from all the food I’d be eating, but now I’m realizing that I’m just gonna sweat off every slice of pizza I eat. So when we arrived we hoofed it around the corner from the main beach, payed some greasy and slightly creepy Italian guy a few euros for the beach chairs and umbrella and settled into a front row seat of the the most leathery European tourists I’ve ever seen in my life. I’d like to know what the rates of melanoma are here.

Honestly though it was super nice, and the water was the perfect temperature. I collected tons of sea glass and had a nap. Took a few photos and googled the history of Positano. Something about pirates and castles, but that’s all I got. Oh. And Rick Steves suggested a delicatessen around the corner from the main walkway for lunches. 4 hours later and we were back on the butt to Salerno, and ready to out sail the incoming thunder shower.

Except we didn’t. Next thing we know us and one other couple are the only people left on the top deck of the boat and the tour guy is yelling, “it’s only water” as we get somewhat soaked. The lightning was cool to see over the coast, and I ended up using my beach towel to keep myself warm because the combo of rain water and wind was very brisk. Not together unwelcome after a hot day at the beach.

Now it’s 4:34 am and I’m wide awake in bed because it’s so windy outside and hot in our room. Apparently I was sleep talking and yelled something about there being cougars here, and I’m not sure if I meant the animal or the people. Maybe both? In five hours we’re going to head back up the train line to Pompeii to learn about the people who got murdered by the mountain. Should be good.

If you’ve been to Rome I’d love to hear your suggestions. We’re headed there on Monday, so if you want to pass ideas my way leave a comment or message me on social media. Ciao!

Sarah

Hot dogs, or legs?My pistachio pizza and local beer.Tianna creating “sauce” for her pizza.

Welcome back to the elusive travel/adventure blog! In case you don’t follow me on social media here’s an update– I’m currently en route to Italy, sitting in the Munich Flueghafen, waiting for our connecting flight at 7:55 pm. It’s currently 3:16 pm.

Tianna and I are headed to Italy for the next 3 weeks to celebrate our recent convocation from UBC. I met a lady on the skytrain yesterday who asked me what my degree is in. “English Literature and Social Geography,” I told her. To which she replied, “Oh my degree is in English Lit too! It’s very useful…” Nonetheless she wished me a happy trip and her friend told me to have a great summer. So, we’re kicking off adulting with an adventure and running away from responsibilities. Sounds good right?

Our plan? We arrive in Naples tonight at 23:00 (I’m going to use 24hrs, writing pm all the time is annoying), and are staying one night at a hostel there. Tomorrow we’ll be on the train to Salerno for the weekend, and then off to Rome on Monday. Florence happens next Friday, and then Pisa on the following Tuesday. We’re going to stay in Manarola in Cinque Terre Wednesday through the 1st (Happy Colonial Birthday Canada!), and then Parma for a day before wrapping up in Venice from the 2nd to the 3rd. Then I come home and Tianna heads east to Moldova.

The real plan? Eat much gelato, pasta, pizza, wine, and Italian beer for 21 days straight. I’ll keep you in the loop though, don’t worry. Also, please forgive any spelling errors or brevity, I’ll be posting from my phone while we’re here so my thumbs might get extra tired.

Here’s a photo of us at YVR before becoming sleep deprived grumpy people.

And here’s me trying to use the ridiculous travel pillow I got from KickStarter.

So it’s been a long while. Sorry about that. Although, I’m sure you’ve all found a range of other articles and books to satisfy your weekly reading quota. Life abroad has been good, I’ve been out and about, bumming around more than actually studying. Something that hopefully won’t come back to bite me. I’ve got three papers due on the 28th, so I’m pacing myself well enough to have them done so I can go to London for a few last days before I head home.

Speaking of home, I leave Norwich in 2 weeks! I am really excited to get back to Canada, and all the things I love. Norwich has been good, but I’m more appreciative of my country now than when I left. I can’t wait to get off the plane, hug my boyfriend, and then head straight to Tim Horton’s for a cup of crappy coffee and a honey cruller. High aspirations, I know. I heard something about Starbucks doing a smores frappe? Not here they’re not. I’ll have to make a stop there too.

In the meanwhile, I’ve been in Europe! Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Munich made appearances on the itinerary, and it was really good to see some new cultures. Travelling to somewhere where I don’t speak the language was terrifying, as it’s hard enough to get accustomed to British culture where they j-walk everywhere, and you have to learn that ‘y’alright’ isn’t a question. Now try ordering something in German, which you don’t speak very well, and go back to crossing streets at the corner. So yes, culture shock was a thing.

I think it hit me harder than I expected, as Berlin wasn’t my favourite place we went, but it was also first. So maybe I was still getting accustomed to being in a new place? I learned a ton in Berlin though, mostly about German history, as you can imagine. I also go to meet up with my boyfriend’s brother for a beer and some sushi, which was really nice. You can’t imagine the effect seeing someone from home has on you, even if you don’t know them that well. It was really cool to see him, even if it was just for a couple of hours. What else can I tell you about Berlin…. I don’t think we actually ate any German food while we were there. It’s intimidating to try to order food when you don’t speak German, and people get mad at you for asking if they speak German. So, it become easier to just eat at places where we knew people would speak English.

Next was Prague. Note to self, reserve a seat when booking train tickets. Otherwise you’ll end up sitting in the hall of the train for 4 hours. It wasn’t actually that bad, as I just sat on my bag and kinda dozed off for most of it. But, any longer than 4 hours and I don’t think I would have been able to feel my butt anymore. It was good when the train finally arrived in Prague though, as it was only a short walk to the hostel. Except the hostel wasn’t there. So then what should have been a 15 minute walk turned into 3 hours of trying to figure out where the hostel actually was. Finally I was able to check my email and discovered that the hostel that we’d originally booked was closed and that the reservation had been transferred to another hostel…. Good thing they sent the email ahead of time…. I loved Prague. It was Easter weekend so everything was all made up for tourists and stuff even more so than I’m sure it usually is. I love tourist trap places. I love being in the middle of crowds. On the last day we walked up to the castle too, which gave us a beautiful view back over the river of all of Prague.

Vienna. Vienna was chill, and the bus only took 4 hours to arrive. Not too bad and it had been pretty cheap. The hostel here was way easier to find, and the guy behind the desk suggested a good traditional food place where we grabbed lunch. Open faced sandwiches are a big thing in Vienna, so it was cool to have one of those right off the bat. We spent time at Schonbrunn Palace while we were there, and also went to the zoo. That was my favourite part of the whole trip! I got to see real live pandas! Which were SO SO SO CUTE! Day made. OH! We also paid a visit to the Spanish Riding School and got to see the Lipizzaner horses get their morning workout. I remember watching a VHS movie about the horses and what happened during the war etc, so it was pretty cool to be able to see the actual stables and buildings that were in that movie. Also. If you are EVER in Vienna, don’t you dare order a regular coffee or latte. Instead, you must order a melange. It’s a traditional Viennese drink, and it’s sort of like a cappuccino, but it’s way way better. I couldn’t get enough of them while I was there, and I’m a bit heartbroken that I won’t be able to experience that for probably a very long time again.

Finally. Munich. Where I forgot to tell the gentleman at the Bierhaus that I only wanted a half litre for lunch. So, I drank of litre of beer. For lunch. At two in the afternoon. I can definitely say I’ve had my fill of Augustiner while being on this trip. Back home I’m so used to drinking super hoppy IPAs that I don’t ever try German or Czech beers. Man, that’s going to change when I get home. It won’t be the same, as I won’t be drinking it out of a huge stein that I need two hands to even lift, but hey, it’s the thought that counts right? We only had one day in Munich, so we basically just wandered around a bit. We spent a good part of the day at the Dachau concentration camp memorial. Well worth the hour trip out-of-town. It’s one thing to see pictures and read about the second world war and what happened in your first year history class. It’s completely another to walk on the grounds where it happened, and just try to imagine what those people went through. Chilling, moving, and incredible. If you’re ever in a place that had either a concentration camp like Dachau or an extermination camp like Auschwitz, please go and see it. It’s well worth it to pay the couple of Euros for an audio guide too. You get so much more out of the experience. Also. Please be respectful. The next tourist I see ripping through somewhere like that taking photos of every single little thing I’m going to lose it. Maybe take their camera and chuck it. Don’t test me. It’s not cool.

Well. What else can I say? I think that’s good for today. I’ll post again with some photos of the trip, although I didn’t take nearly as many as I would have liked. When it’s windy and cold you’re much less inclined to take your hands out of your pockets, regardless of where you are and what you’re looking at. Or maybe that’s just me being a sissy. Who knows.

Enjoy your week friends, good luck with finals if you’re still writing them, and see you all soon!